After 'Rise', it's 'Spark the Rise' for Mahindra

Mahindra has announced the launch of a multi-media movement called 'Spark the Rise'; media spends are pegged at Rs 18 crore over the next four-six months, across various media channels and touch-points.

To further its recently launched brand position 'Rise', Mahindra has announced the launch of yet another movement. Called 'Spark the Rise', it is essentially an attempt to make people engage with the idea of 'Rise'.

Through 'Spark the Rise', Mahindra intends to create a digital platform for individuals, groups, institutions, organisations, NGOs and other businesses, to submit project plans or 'Sparks'. The company will then fund the best project plans. These project ideas could fall under one of five categories, namely, technology, energy, agriculture and rural development, infrastructure and transportation, and lastly, social entrepreneurship.

Each month, eight winning ideas, that is, 'Sparks', will be given a financial grant of Rs 4 lakh from Mahindra. Five of these winning ideas will be chosen by public vote, while three will be selected by an expert jury, comprising Rama Bijapurkar, Nadir Godrej, Nachiket Moghe and Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao. Over the course of six months, the company will award a total of 48 grants and the total grant amount that the company has earmarked for giving away is Rs 2.92 crore.

In the Grand Finale round, 18 finalists will be given the chance to win further funding. The 18 finalists will comprise the top two winners of each month (chosen by public vote), and six entries (chosen by the jury).

Explaining the term 'Spark', Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director, Mahindra Group, says, "A big idea often begins with a tiny spark of inspiration. A spark that can ignite a revolution."

Accompanying this initiative is a multi-media campaign comprising a TVC that broke yesterday (August 11). In tandem with Rise -- the company's positioning stance since January this year -- the film is a dramatic depiction of various individuals and groups of people 'rising', both literally and figuratively. The ad ends with the words "There are those who accept things as they are and those who rise to change."

The second TVC will break on August 17, along with the launch of the digital platform.

Besides TV, the media mix will include print communication, digital efforts/online advertising and heavy on-ground activation. B Karthik, general manager, corporate brand management and business transformation, Mahindra and Mahindra, tells afaqs! that the total media spend, spread across all these media channels, over the next four-six months, is around Rs 18 crore.

The campaign has been developed by StrawberryFrog (New York). In India, the media mandate lies with Lodestar UM.

Spark the Rise is a global campaign and the first roll out is in Mahindra's home turf -- India. It will be tweaked and customised to suit other markets before it is rolled out overseas.